ENDANGERED HERITAGE CRAFT AT HARRODS.

Passementerie is the art of making trims, tassels and fancy textile embellishments and Jessica Light is the last practitioner left in the East End of London, one of this historic craft’s traditional areas of trimming manufacture dating back to the 17^th century and the Huguenots. She is also one of four individual passementeriers left in the UK and passementerie is classed as an endangered heritage craft, which means it is in danger of dying out.

All Jessica’s trims are hand-woven on a mid-19^th century foot-powered wooden treadle loom, and the tassels are hand-made in her London workshop using techniques dating back to the 16^th century. Jessica’s passementerie has adorned the worlds of interiors, fashion and film and her work has been commissioned by such luminaries as Vivienne Westwood, Firmdale hotels, and The Royal Collections Trust. Her handiwork can be seen in Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, on tablecloths in the recent film, Death on The Nile and her crowning glory, the yellow bullion fringe on the balcony drape at Buckingham Palace. She has a very distinctive style that is very contemporary but steeped in the use of traditional skills. As she puts it “Heritage techniques with modern thought”

Along side Jessica’s passementerie, she is also an expert bead worker, and her beadwork has bedecked couture gowns by Christian Lacroix, John Galliano, and Thierry Mugler. She also made the crystal stars on Kylie Minogue’s John Galliano/Mr Pearl corset for the singer’s Showgirl tour.

For the 2025 Harrods Christmas tassel collection, Jessica has combined these two high-level craft disciplines to create a unique range of luxury tassels, all hand-made by herself.

She has utilised 16^th century passementerie techniques like tassel skirt making and covering wooden shapes with threads and cords, to which she has added glittering crystal and pearl beadwork constructions to create an exclusive collection of hand-crafted tassels in rich dramatic regal reds or delicate pastels with a pop of lemon yellow, that would bring glamour to any tree. These tassels are too beautiful to then hide away the rest of the year and could be used to decorate drawer, wardrobe and door handles or dangled off a handbag,

On working with Harrods Jessica says “It’s so wonderful to see such a world renown and iconic store like Harrods support and highlight an endangered Heritage craft like passementerie and one of its last UK makers. I see these tassels not only as future heirlooms but also to promote British craftsmanship and help keep these historic skills alive for generations to come”

The Harrods Christmas Tassel collection by Jessica Light

Available in-store and online

Harrods.